Teens Admit to Using Cell Phones to Cheat in School

A new survey has found that over a third of American teenagers will use their cell phone to help cheat in school - while half admit to using the internet to cheat. More importantly claims the survey, many students don't consider their actions to be cheating at all.

"The results of this poll should be a wake-up call for educators and parents," said James Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. "Cell phones and the Internet have been a real game-changer for education and have opened up many avenues for collaboration, creation, and communication. But as this poll shows, the unintended consequence of these versatile technologies is that they've made cheating easier. The call to action is clear: Parents and educators have to be aware of how kids are using technology to cheat and then help our kids understand that the consequences for online cheating are just as serious as offline cheating."

Kids have always found ways to cheat, but the tools they have today are more powerful than ever.

In this poll, kids reveal that they're texting each other answers during tests, using notes and information stored on their cell phones during tests, and downloading papers from the Internet to turn in as their own work. Because the digital world is distant, hard to track, and mostly anonymous, kids are less likely to see the consequences of their online actions, especially when they feel they won't get caught.

Other key findings from the poll include:

• 41% of teens say that storing notes on a cell phone to access during a test is a serious cheating offense, while 23% don't think it's cheating at all.
• 45% of teens say that texting friends about answers during tests is a serious cheating offense, while 20% say it's not cheating at all.
• 76% of parents say that cell phone cheating happens at their teens' schools, but only 3% believe their own teen has ever used a cell phone to cheat.
• Nearly two-thirds of students with cell phones use them during school, regardless of school policies against it.
• Teens with cell phones send 440 text messages a week and 110 a week while in the classroom.

Posted to the site on 22nd June 2009